Weather modification operations in California

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SCIENCES
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THE RESOURCES AGENCY OF CAIIFORNU
Department oF Water Resources

BULLETIN No. 16-63

WEATHER MODIFICATION

OPERATIONS

IN CALIFORNIA

OCTOBER 1, 1962— SEPTEMBER 30, 1963

HUGO FISHER

Administrator
The Resources Agency of California

JUNE 1964

EDMUND G. BROWN

Governor

State of California

UNIVERSIIY OF CALIFORnTa

DAVIS

NOV!>0 1964

LIBRARY

WILLIAM E. WARNE

Director
Department of Water Resources

State of California
THE RESOURCES AGENCY OF CALIFORNIA

Department of Wa ter Re sources

BULLETIN No. 16-63

WEATHER MODIFICATION

OPERATIONS

IN CALIFORNIA

OCTOBER 1, 1962— SEPTEMBER 30, 1963

JUNE 1964

HUGO FISHER EDMUND G. BROWN WILLIAM E. WARNE

Adminislrafor Governor Director

The Resources Agency of California State of California Department of Water Resources

0 6)^'7-

ERRATA SHEET TO BULLETIN NO. I6-63

WEATHER MODIFICATION OPERATIONS IN CALIFORNIA

OCTOBER 1962- SEPTEMBER I963

The following corrections should be made on Bulletin
No. 16-63:

1. Page 6, Table 2 - under Project No. 12-63-1 in the "Client"
column, "County of Kern and County of Tulare" change to
"County of Kern".

2. Page 6, Table 2 - under Project No. 12-63-1 in the "Target
Area" column, "Eastern Tulare County and Kern County"
should be changed to "Kern River Watershed and Northwest
Corner of Kern County".

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOnNIA

OAViS

JAN lb 1965

TABLES OF CONTENTS

Page

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL v

INTRODUCTION 1

SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS 2

TABLES

Table
Number

1 ACTIVE WEATHER MODIFICATION LICENSES DURING THE
PERIOD OCTOBER 1962 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 1963 . . .

2 WEATHER MODIFICATION OPERATIONS IN CALIFORNIA,
OCTOBER 1, 1962 - SEPTEMBER 30, 1963

APPENDIX

CHAPTER k, DIVISION 1, OF THE WATER CODE.

Plate
Niomber

PLATES

APPROXIMATE TARGET AREA OF WEATHER
MODIFICATION OPERATIONS, I962-63 .

CALENDAR OF WEATHER MODIFICATION OPERATIONS
OCTOBER 1962 THROUGH SEPTEMBER I963 ....

13
15

ill

STATE OF CALIFORNIA-RESOURCES AGENCY WILLIAM E. WARNE, Direc«or

DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES

P.O. BOX 388
SACRAMENTO

May 4, 1964

Honorable Edmund G.. Brown, Governor
and Members of the Legislature of the
State of California

Gentlemen:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report
of the Department of Water Resources, entitled "Weather
Modification Operations in California, October 1, I962 -
September 30, I963."

During the period covered by the report, there
were ten projects Involving weather modification operations
which were undertaken in California. These were accomplished
by nine of the eleven operators who were licensed by the
department for such activities.

Sincerely yours.

^JU^

Director

WEATHER MODIFICATION OPERATIONS IN CALIFORNIA
OCTOBER 1, 1962 - SEPTEMBER 30, I963

INTRODUCTION

This report presents a summary of all weather modifi-
cation projects conducted In California during the period October 1,
1962, through September 30, 1963:. as reported to the Department of
Water Resources In accordance with the provisions of Chapter 4,
Division 1 of the Water Code,

Appended to this report are the statutes on the regulation
and control of natural precipitation by artificial means.

These statutes provide in part that:

"No person, without first securing a license from the
department, shall cause or attempt to cause condensation
or precipitation of rain, snow, moisture, or water in any
form contained in the atmosphere, or shall prevent or attempt
to prevent by artificial means the natural condensation or
precipitation of rain, snow, moisture, or water in any form
contained in the atmosphere."

On being Issued a license by the department, the licensee
may operate projects in the areas and periods specified in the notices
of Intention to modify natural precipitation by artificial means.
These notices must be published by the licensee in newspapers having
a general circulation and published In each county where the oper-
ation is to be conducted. At the conclusion of each weather modifi-
cation project, the licensee is required by law to submit a comple-
tion report to the Department of Water Resources. These reports
include such information as the name of the agency sponsoring the
project, location of the project, log of all seeding operations.

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cloud-seeding techniques and type of equipment used, and the names
of all persons who assisted In the operation. These completion
reports are summarized by the department In an annual report on
weather modification operations In California, This is the eighth
report published in this series which summarizes completion reports
submitted to the department since July 1952 .

A detailed report which presents the theory of weather
modification, evaluation of methods and results, and a history of
cloud-seeding operations from July 19^7 through June 1952 was pub-
lished by the State Water Resources Board in June 1955 as Bulletin
No. l6, "Weather Modification Operations in California."

SUMMARY OF 1962-63 OPERATIONS
During the period October 1962 through September 1963,
ten weather modification operations were conducted In California
from Plumas County in the north to San Diego County in the south.
Of the ten cloud-seeding projects, nine were for the stated purposes
of increasing precipitation, and one was for suppressing hall. Five
of these operations were concentrated along the western slope of
the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and one was concentrated in the Central
Coast Range for the purpose of increasing precipitation on watersheds
above water conservation reservoirs or hydroelectric Installations.
Precipitation increase was also the purpose of the three seeding
projects in Southern California. The single hail suppression project
covered most of the lower Sacramento Valley. Approximate areas
affected by cloud -seeding operations during I962-63 are shown on
Plate 1.

-2-

The year covered by this report was one of the better
water supply seasons of recent history. A major portion of the
total rainfall, which approached or exceeded the 50-year average
in most areas, fell during the months of October, March, and
April. Even though clouds with rain producing potential were avail-
able for only relatively short periods, paralleling the weather of
the 1961-62 season, the total number of days in which seeding took
place increased by 46.

During the I962-63 season, ten projects were conducted
by nine licensees. The total operating time of ground based gener-
ators on these projects was 23,952 hours. Nine operators used silver
iodide as a nucleating agent for ground based generators, and one
used non-toxic metallic haloids in an experimental project. Dry ice
(solidified carbon dioxide) and silver iodide were used in air-
borne generators in four of the projects. During this period an
estimated 390,653 grams, or 861 pounds, of silver iodide, 3,527
pounds of haloids, and 4,576 pounds of "dry ice" were released.

The amount of silver iodide released during the I962-63
season was I76 percent of that released during the 196I-62 season.
Total operating time during the 1962-63 season was I5I percent of
the previous season's. Of the 365 calendar days during the year
covered by this report, seeding operations were conducted on 133
days, as opposed to 87 days for the 196I-62 season.

During the period covered by this report, no licenses
expired, and License No. 25 was issued to KRC Service Corporation.

-3-

Table 1 lists all licenses which were active during the I962-63
period .

Projects conducted in California during the 1952-63
season are listed in Table 2, together with pertinent data on
number of generator-hours, rate of use of silver iodide, etc. Each
project in the table is designated by a coding number consisting of
three elements. The first element is the license number, the
second indicates the water year, and the third is assigned in numer-
ical sequence to projects undertaken by a licensee during the year
as shown by published notices of intention filed with the department.
This code number is used to identify the project for which the
approximate target areas are shown on Plate 1 and for which the daily
cloud-seeding operations are shown on Plate 2.

-4-

TABLE 1

ACTIVE WEATHER MODIFICATION LICENSES
DURING THE PERIOD OCTOBER I962 THROUGH SEPTEMBER I963

License :
Number : Licensee

1 North American Weather Consultants
Santa Barbara Municipal Airport
Goleta, California

5 Water Resources Development Corporation
460 South Broadway-
Denver 9 J Colorado

6 Weather Modification Company-
San Jose Municipal Airport
San Jose 10, California

12 Precipitation Control Company of California
105 Pierce Street
Taft, California

l4 North American Weather Consultants of California
Santa Barbara Municipal Airport
Goleta, California

18 Los Angeles County Flood Control District
Box 24l8, Terminal Annex
Los Angeles 54, California

21 Atmospherics Incorporated
3435 East Pontiac Way
Fresno 3, California

22 San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District
355 North ' D" Street

San Bernardino, California

23 Pacific Gas and Electric Company
245 Market Street

San Francisco 6, California

24 International Weather Control, Inc.
40 West First Street, Suite 105
Reno, Nevada

25-"- KRC Service Corporation
2956 C Street
San Diego 2, California

•K- License issued July 9, 1963

-5-

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-6-

CHAPTER 4, DIVISION 1 OF THE WATER CODE

-7-

CHAPTER 4, DIVISION 1 OF THE WATER CODE, STATE OF CALIFORNIA

REGULATION OF RAIN -MAKING AND RAIN -PREVENTION
^Chapter 4 added by Stats. 19133, Ch, 139? as part of codification)

400. The public interest, health, safety, welfare, and necessity
require that sclent j fie experimentation in the field of artificial
nucleation, and that scientific efforts to develop. Increase, and
regulate natural precipitation be encouraged, and that means be pro-
vided for the regulation and control of interference by artificial
means with natural precipitation of rain, snow, moisture, or water

in any form contained in the atmosphere, within the State, in order
to develop, conserve, and protect the natural water resources of
the State and to safeguard life and property.

401. As used in this chapter:

(a) "Department' means the Department of Water Resources.

(b) ''Person" means any person, firm, association, organi-
zation, partnership, company, corporation, private or public, county,
city, city and county, district, or other public agency. (Amended by
Stats. 1959, Ch. 1269)

402 . No person, without first securing a license from the
department, shall cause or attempt to cause condensation or precipi-
tation of rain, snow, moisture, or water in any form contained in the
atmosphere, or shall prevent or attempt to prevent by artificial
means the natural condensation or precipitation of rain, snow, moisture
or water in any form contained in the atmosphere.

403. Any person desiring to do any of the acts specified in
Section ^ 402 may file with the department an application in writing
for a license. Each application shall be accompanied by a filing
fee fixed by the department with the approval of the Department of
Finance but not to exceed fifty dollars ($50) and shall be on a form
to be supplied for such purpose by the department.

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404. Every application shall set forth all of the following:
The name and post-office address of the applicant.
The previous education, experience, and qualifications of
the applicant, or. If the applicant is other than an individual,
the previous education, experience, and qualifications of the persons
who will be in control of and charged with the operations of the
applicant .

(c) A general description of the operations which the applicant
intends to conduct and the method and type of equipment that the
applicant proposes to use.

-9-

(d) Such other pertinent information as the department may
require.

405. Upon the filing of the application upon a form supplied
by the department and containing the information prescribed by
this chapter and accompanied by the required filing fee the depart-
ment shall issue a license to the applicant entitling the applicant
to conduct the operations described in the application for the calen-
dar year for which the license is issued, unless the license is sooner
revoked or suspended.

406. A license may be renewed annually upon application to the
department, accompanied by a renewal fee fixed by the department
with the approval of the Department of Finance but not to exceed
twenty-five dollars ($25), on or before the last day of January of the
calendar year for which the license is renewed.

407. Prior to undertaking any operation authorized by the
license the licensee shall file with the department and cause to be
published a notice of intention. The licensee shall then confine
his activities for that operation substantially within the time and
area limits set forth in the notice of intention.

408. The notice of Intention shall set forth all of the
following:

[a) The name and address of the licensee.

,b) The nature and object of the intended operation and the
person or persons on whose behalf it is to be conducted.

(c) The area in which and the approximate time during which the
operation will be conducted.

(d) The area which will be affected by the operation as near
as the same may be determined in advance .

409. The licensee shall cause the notice of intention to be
published pursuant to Section 6063* of the Government Code in a
newspaper having a general circulation and published within any
county wherein the operation is to be conducted and in which the
affected area is located, or, if the operation is to be conducted in
more than one county or if the affected area is located in more than
one county or is located in a county other than the one in which

the operation is to be conducted, then such notice shall be published
in like manner in a newspaper having a general circulation and
published within each of such counties. In case there is no newspaper

* A copy of Government Code Section 6063 is appended to this excerpt
from the Water Code.

-10-

published within the appropriate county, publication shall be made
In a newspaper having a general circulation within the county,
(Amended by Stats. 1955, Ch. 432, and by Stats. 1957, Ch. 448)

410. Proof of publication shall be filed by the licensee with
the department within 15 days from the date of the last publication
of the notice. Proof of publication shall be by copy of the notice
as published attached to and made a part of the affidavit of the
publisher or foreman of the newspaper publishing the notice.

411. Every licensee shall keep and maintain a record of all
operations conducted by him pursuant to his license showing the
method employed, the type of equipment used, the times and places of
operation of the equipment, the name and post-office address of each
person participating or assisting in the operation other than the
licensee, and such other information as may be required by the
department, and shall report the same to the department immediately
upon the completion of each operation.

412. Each licensee shall further prepare and maintain an
evaluation statement for each operation which shall Include a report
as to estimated precipitation, defining the gain or loss occurring
from nucleatlon activities, together with supporting data therefor.
This statement, together with such other pertinent information as
the department may require, shall be sent to the department upon
request by the department.

413. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the
contrary, the department may grant a licensee permission to undertake
an emergency nucleatlon project, without compliance by the licensee
with the provisions of Sections 407 to 4lO, inclusive, if the same
appears to the department to be necessary or desirable in aid of
extinguishment of fires.

413.5. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the
contrary, upon request of the board of supervisors of a county or
of the governing body of a city or a public district of the State,
and upon the submission of such supporting evidence as the depart-
ment may require, the department may grant a licensee permission
to undertake a nucleatlon project for the purpose of alleviating
a drought emergency, without prior compliance by the licensee with
the provisions of Section 40? requiring publication of notice of
intention, if such project appears to the department to be necessary
or desirable. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed
as to relieve the licensee in such case from compliance with the
provisions of Sections 407 to 4lO, inclusive, requiring publication
of notice of Intention and filing of proof of such publication, as
soon after the granting of permission by the department as is
practicable. (Added by Stats. 1955, Ch. 1399)

-11-

414. Any license may be revoked or suspended if the department
finds, after due notice to the licensee and a hearing thereon, that
the licensee has failed or refused to comply with any of the pro-
visions of this chapter. The proceedings herein referred to shall
be conducted In accordance with the provisions of the Administrative
Procedure Act, Chapter 5, Part 1, Division 3, Title 2 of the
Government Code and the department shall have all the powers granted
therein.

415. Any person who violates any provision of this chapter Is
guilty of a misdemeanor.

NOTE

The foregoing Is a true copy of Chapter 4, Division 1 of
the Water Code as of 1/1/61. Persons directly concerned with any
activities coming under the provisions of this chapter are urged
to check with the department from time -to-time for any revisions that
may be made by the Legislature.

For convenience of those persons interested in publication
requirements for notices of intention, the following is a copy of
Section 6063 of the Government Code.

6063. Publication of notice pursuant to this section shall be
once a week for three successive weeks. Three publications in a
newspaper regularly published once a week or oftener, with at least
five days intervening between the respective publication dates not
counting such publication dates, are sufficient. The period of notice
commences upon the first day of publication and terminates at the
end of the twenty-first day, including therein the first day.
(Added by Stats. 19^9, Ch. 1587; amended by Stats. 1957, Ch. I67O,
and by Stats. 1959, Ch. 95^)

• 12-

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES

DIVISION OF RESOURCES PLANNING

APPROXIMATE TARGET AREA

OF

WEATHER MODIFICATION OPERATIONS

1962-63

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DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES 1962

CALENDAR OF WEATHER MODIFICATION OPERATIONS

OCTOBER 1962 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 1963

DAYS OF CLOUD SEEDING SHOWN IN GRAY

-15-

c.>

THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW

BOOKS REQUESTED BY ANOTHER BORROWER
ARE SUBJECT TO RECALL AFTER ONE WEEK.
RENEWED BOOKS ARE SUBJECT TO
r.. IMMEDIATE RECALL

Mm 2 0 1992

LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

D4613 (12/76)

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORN

1175 02037 6706

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California.

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Dept. of Water Resources.

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